The Gift of a Child's Laughter
by winter s. jameson
Summary: As part of a charity fundraiser for the children's hospital, the guys find themselves a bit embarrassed by the routine they've agreed to do. But it just may lead to a happy ending...


_Original ANs: Wow, you know, I don't think I've ever been quite so inspired by a completely original idea before..._

_But it had to be written, so I did. And I needed to share, so I am. This story idea came from me watching an older home movie of my mother, my sister, and I doing a lip sync for my dad's side of the family, and I found myself thinking of the guys. And once you read it, I think you'll see the same correlations I did (and thus my "casting"), and hopefully chuckle as much as I did. I don't know how much smarm is in here (I doubt much), but it's a sweet little piece I think you'll enjoy. Be sure to let me know!_

_Current ANs: I don't actually have much to add, but when I rediscovered this piece I found I was still happy enough to share it here. I hope you enjoy it, too!_

* * *

"I can't believe we're doing this." The tall blond pushed his red-rimmed glasses further up the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Luck of the draw, Spengs. Luck of the draw. Guess you should have picked a different slip of paper." The shorter brown-haired man grinned mischievously as he adjusted the red baseball cap he wore, cocking it at a saucy angle.

"He's got you there, man," a grinning black man added as he straightened his black tie and light blue v-neck sweater.

"Oh, come on, guys. It's for charity! It'll be fun!" The husky, redheaded man smiled excitedly as he bounced impatiently.

"Whoa, slow down there, Tex," the brown-haired man said with a chuckle. "We've still got a couple acts to go before our public humiliation."

"Such confidence, Peter. And here I thought you were looking forward to this event."

"Well, no matter what I'm thinking it's _got_ to be better than what's going through your brain pan, Egon," Peter retorted, his emerald green eyes sparkling with mirth. "At least I got the lead."

Egon raised an eyebrow and gave a small smile. "As if you would have let anyone else take that position. Besides, you were too perfectly suited for the role."

Twinkling greens met pale blues. "You, Doctor Spengler, are jealous."

"And you, Doctor Venkman, are delusional."

"We always have worried about you, Pete. And now we know why." The most formally dressed man in the small dressing room shook his head as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Oh, we've known why for years, Winston," the redhead responded. "We've just always hoped he'd grow out of it."

"That would be _your_ eternal optimism speaking, Raymond," Egon said dryly. "I, myself, recognized the case as a lost cause years ago."

Before the mock-hurt victim could hurl back a stinging retort, a knock sounded at the door. "Five minutes, gentlemen. You're wanted back stage." The young man's voice shook slightly from behind the door. "So far everything's run smoothly."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Michael," Peter said soothingly as he led the others toward the door. "We'll be doing our part to make sure it stays that way." He opened the door to reveal a young man in his early twenties with short, straight black hair and a bit of a baby face. "So lead the way."

The young assistant stage manager controlled his expression with a visible effort and began walking toward where the director of the charity event waited for the group. Egon sighed once again. "This is so undignified." The others smothered their grins.

"Ah, Ghostbusters," a short, white-haired woman said with a twinkle in her light green-grey eyes equal to Peter's own. "I'm glad you're here. You do realize you could have picked again if this was going to be uncomfortable." She only had enough control to keep half of her mouth from twitching upward.

"No, no, that's alright," Peter protested quickly, much to the others' surprise. "The kids picked which groups they wanted to have their favorite celebrities perform as for this lip-sync. And we all agreed everyone's choices would be random. It wouldn't be fair for us to pick again just because it's a little..." His voice trailed off as he tried to find a diplomatic way to put his thoughts into words.

"Ridiculous?" the woman offered. "You guys have always done more than your share for us at the Children's Hospital. This is just one more example."

"The crowd will get some good entertainment out of it at least," Ray said cheerfully, grinning widely. He was bouncing again.

"We better get this boy out there before he starts doing his Tigger impersonation," Winston suggested wryly.

"You are only this exceptionally willing to continue with this descent into madness because you are decently dressed," Egon commented resignedly, glancing down at his own strange clothing. His blue low-top Chuck Taylors peeked back at him.

Peter watched his oldest friend finally give in - like he knew would happen - with a sense of satisfaction. Now the man could actually have fun with it. "Of course, Spengs," he said expansively. "That's his right as the keeper of this group. Just like it's _our_ right to go out there and ham it up for the kiddies. Don't let 'em down, big guy. Let loose and have fun."

"Yeah, Egon," Ray agreed. "You know we'll have fun, and the kids are going to _love_ it! I bet they like us best of all!"

"This from the official big kid himself." Peter grinned at the youngest Ghostbuster fondly.

"Oh, yeah?" Ray retorted impishly. "I seem to recall you getting completely into the act as soon as you saw your costume."

"So I look good in red. What can I say?" The brown-haired man posed arrogantly for a moment. "And you don't look so bad in green, Ray," he said as he relaxed his posture.

"Time to get on stage, gentlemen," the tiny woman said, grinning at their antics. "Here goes nothing."

"That statement was _not_ required," Egon said with a sigh as he followed Ray and Peter to their places behind the drawn curtain of the community theater's stage that was host to the event. But his two oldest friends could hear the humor behind the seemingly reluctant tone. Yeah, he was in this all the way.

Winston brushed one last piece of lint off his dark blue dress pants as the previous act hurried off stage and he stepped onto the dark stage to his mark downstage left. He waited the few minutes while he and his companions were announced as the Ghostbusters, and quickly blinked away the sightlessness as the spotlight he was expecting focused on him and the children's song they were lip syncing to began pouring out of the speakers. "And now, folks, for an old familiar favorite. We've had many requests for this. It's a simple, little sentimental song." Winston was playing the crowd like a great MC as the curtain began to draw aside and reveal the other three in their places. "And I certainly hope all you sentimental folks out there are going to enjoy it. Let's go." He gestured toward the center of the stage where the silhouettes of the guys were revealed to be set up like a three-piece band - a quite familiar one actually.

Just then the center spotlight snapped on, and Peter spun around and grinned his most winning public relations smile at the audience. The long red T-shirt that hung to the tops of his red low-top Chuck Taylors with the large yellow "A" - that matched the small yellow "A" on the cap - twirled a bit and settled back into place, and amazingly enough his sunglasses never moved. "Hi, all you cats out there."

Winston looked at him blankly. "Huh?"

Peter pointed expansively into the air. "Let's take it from the top. One, two..."

The brown-haired man started snapping to the beat as two more spotlights turned on to reveal the last two Ghostbusters equally clad in dark sunglasses and long T-shirts - Ray in green behind the drum kit and Egon in blue holding the stand-up bass - as the drum and bass began playing a jazzy backbeat. The drums beat a bit madly (and Ray pretended to keep up, almost successfully) and then all the music stopped. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star."

There was a bit of drumming and then it stopped again, like an old fifties beatnik tune. "How I wonder what you are." More drumming, then Egon added the bass lazily as Ray continued to keep the beat going while Peter continued the verse. "Up above the world so high; like a swinger in the sky." Peter did a full body swoop to the word swinger and continued to snap and bop with the beat. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star; how I wonder what you are."

Peter then swung around a saxophone that had been hanging behind him on the strap and pretended to play it during the "swinging" interlude. Once it was over, he shifted it back and gave the audience - mostly the kids and staff from the Children's Hospital, but a decent sized group of others - a classic Venkman grin. "When the swinging sun has set." He brought his wide-spread hands down from above his head as he "sang" the line. "When the grass with dew is wet." He swept his right arm out in front of him in a flat arc. "Then I see you from afar." The same right hand came up to shield his eyes. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." He shifted both arms out and shook both hands, lightly spread wide. "Twinkle, twinkle, little..."

Winston had, during this entire time, been growing more and more annoyed with what he was witnessing. Obviously he had finally reached the end of his rope. "All right, all right, all right, Alvin!" he "declared" as he stormed over to where Peter was glorying in the center spotlight. "You guys have had your fun, now do the song the way we rehearsed it!" He glared at the others as they continued to "play" the jazzy music and Peter kept boogieing to it.

The front man of the operation turned slightly to face the irritated man. "Like, the song's square, dad." He formed a square in the air. "It needs a little action!" He snapped his fingers a few times.

"Huh?" Winston looked confused.

"Man, like it should swing!" He scooped himself again. "You know, like Diz and the cats would flip it!" He flipped his hands over dramatically.

"Huh?"

"Like, be bop de boop bop de bay bada boop!"

"Huh?"

"Dave," Egon began as he continued to pluck away at the large instrument in his hands and bop to the beat, "what Alvin is saying, in his own quaint way, is that this traditional song would sound better if it was given a more modern and contemporary treatment... dad." Peter had taken the opportunity to start bopping outrageously to the continued drum, bass, and mysterious piano chords.

"Yeah!" Ray "chimed" in enthusiastically, springing from his stool while continuing to "play" and giggling. "Dad!" His jump up had nearly knocked over one of the cymbals and he clamored to right it as Winston stomped over to the dancing Peter and yanked him back to center stage.

"All right! That is enough!" At his slashing gesture, the music stopped abruptly. "Take off those silly sunglasses!" The three sullen men did as they were told, hanging them onto the front of their shirts. "We're going to do the song the way it's supposed to be done! All together now."

Peter, Ray, and Egon crossed their arms over their chests – Egon's folded arm holding up his bass - and reluctantly began to "sing". "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." Each of them pulled a triangle out from no one knew where and hit it the five times that rang through the laughter-filled auditorium, then re-crossed their arms in unison. "How I wonder what you are." The triangles six time instead of five before returning to wherever they had come from. "Up above the world so high." They simply raised their arms weakly into the air, a few twitches of their lips the only signal that they were fighting the urge to join the rest of the crowd in losing it. "Like a diamond in the sky." They brought their hands together to form small diamonds right above their heads, still looking teed off. Then they crossed their arms - again in complete harmony - as Winston, back in his original position, took up the tune.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star." He looked completely content as the guys oo'ed behind him looking utterly bored. "How I wonder what you are. When the evening sun has set. When the grass with dew is wet. Then I see you from afar." Unseen by Winston, Peter signaled the other two and gave the audience an outrageous wink and pulled on his sunglasses once more, soon followed by Ray and Egon. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star."

Suddenly the jazzy music started up again, the three guys bopping away like they had been before, grins blazing and the crowd cheering. Peter threw his arms wide dramatically as he started "singing" again. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are." He brought his arms slowly back to his sides as he finished the second line. Winston just covered his face with his hands and shook his head. "Up above the world so high." Peter raised his hands over his head. "Like a swinger in the sky." He swooped himself one more time. "When the swinging sun has set. When the grass with dew is wet. Then I see you from afar." He copied his moves from the last time he had "sang" those lyrics. Ray and Egon grinned even wider as they joined in after a pounding drumroll. "Twinkle, twinkle, little star!" And the last thing Peter did as the jazz stopped was pull out his triangle once again and tap it with the last tiny note that rang at the end of the song, a huge, triumphant grin on his face.

The crowd went wild with applause and side-splitting laughter. The guys joined in and lined up for a quick bow, then dashed off stage. They were pushed out by the event director twice more due to the thunderous clapping and cheers, Peter eating up every second of adulation. Egon, Winston, and Ray finally had to drag him away after their second encore.

* * *

They sat in their dressing room catching their breaths and finding themselves still falling into fits of laughter when a timid knock came at the door. "Yeah!" Peter called, too pooped to get up and answer it.

"May... may I come in?" a small, female voice said from the other side of the door.

The four friends looked at each other. "Yeah, sure!" Ray encouraged her. "We won't bite!"

The door crept open and a little girl of about eight slipped into the room. Her face was pale, her long hair honey blonde, and her dark blue eyes wide, but there was a joy in her features the guys got the sudden feeling wasn't very common. "I... I wanted to thank you for doing such a wonderful job today," the tiny voice said meekly as she shut the door behind herself. "I haven't been able to laugh like that in a long time."

Peter stood quickly and crossed the room, kneeling to the girl's level once he got there. "I'm glad we could make you feel that way. I'm Peter. What's your name?"

She smiled shyly. "I know who you are. You're famous. My name... is Genevieve."

The psychologist grinned and shot his friends a quick look. "See? I told you I was. Now, Genevieve, would you like to have a seat? Maybe something to drink? You'll see the Ghostbusters treat their groupies right."

"No, Peter, that's all right. I'm just glad you went through with my pick for a group. The last three times they had this event the people that picked it wouldn't do it. But you guys did, and it was so funny. I got to laugh one last time." Genevieve's smile was serene as the four men started in surprise. They were all remembering how the director had mentioned just that morning at dress rehearsal that she had gotten the idea for this fund-raiser from some ten-year-old files she had stumbled across when she was cleaning out the filing cabinet she had been provided when she took the position.

"One last time..." Ray's voice trailed off as the little girl who stood just inside the door began to fade as they watched her.

Peter merely smiled. "I'm glad we could make you happy, Genevieve. Remember us."

The little girl nodded as she faded from sight all together. "I'll always remember you. Always," her voice echoed back, and every trace of her was gone.

Well, almost every trace. Egon blinked once and dove for the duffle bag he had brought his normal clothing in and dug out a PKE meter, aiming it in the direction of the door as he turned it on. Ray quickly moved over to join him. "Fading residuals of a class three," the blond physicist explained as he put the meter down.

"I wonder who she was," Ray queried, and the other three men in the room shrugged.

"She was Genevieve, she's finally happy, and that's all that really matters," Peter said, subdued but peaceful.

"And we gave that to her," Ray added, exuberance returning to his tone. "Isn't that great? Gee, Egon, I guess it's a good thing you picked that slip after all!"

"Definitely fortuitous, Raymond. I suppose that made our public exhibition, as embarrassing as it was, well worth it."

"You got that right, homeboy," Winston concurred. "And now I want to get out of this stuffy outfit!" He began to pull off the tie.

"Yeah," Peter said, the impish twinkle returning to his eyes. "Although, I don't know. Spengs might want to keep his on. The kiddies might relate better to him that way. Beats the whole aloof scientist look he normally has going." The brown-haired man's grin was blazing. "Then again, Janine _likes_ the whole aloof scientist thing. What a choice, Egon. Whatever are you going to do?"

"Oh, I don't know, Peter," Egon said as he finished changing his clothes. "I thought I'd just..." His look turned wicked as he began stalking toward his best friend, arms and hands extended threateningly. "Chase you out into public without giving you a chance to get out of that ridiculous outfit!" The blond man charged after Peter, who wisely turned tail and ran. Winston and Ray, who had also managed to change before the psychologist had finished speaking, followed quickly, laughing the entire way.

They ran into the group of kids that had been brought over from the hospital, and everyone enjoyed the sight of Peter getting pounced by his fellow Ghostbusters and tickle attacked. '_Let 'em laugh_,' he thought indulgently as he shrieked with claims of indignant protest. '_They don't know I wore my regular clothes underneath this dress of a T-shirt_.'

And from somewhere just over on the other side, Genevieve watched and laughed, traveling on to her next destination.


End file.
